Risin' above the need / Where do we go when we die - The The

This fourth and final single from The The's recent album Ensoulment was a bit of a surprise, as I bought a bundled trio of singles just recently. But as Matt Johnson explained: "Having now had the chance to perform the new album live across the UK, Europe and America, we found that these two songs were amongst the most popular. ‘Where Do We Go When We Die?’ was written for my late father Eddie Johnson (author of Tales From The Two Puddings) whilst ‘Risin’ Above The Need’ is a philosophical muse upon addiction and materialism and the power of the human spirit to overcome obstacles."

I ordered the single the minute I received the newsletter from the band, afraid that I might miss out if I waited. This is a limited edition physical release, after all... It neatly completes this particular mini-collection.

My collection: 7" single no. 7527
Found: The The website, received 10 December 2024
Tracks: 'Risin' above the need' / 'Where do we go when we die'

A fragile thing - The Cure

The Cure finally returned with a new album last month, and it is better than its predecessors - at least, that's what I think. The first single was the track 'Alone', which wasn't released physically, which was a disappointment. Fortunately the second single did get a physical release. It's the slightly whimsier track 'A fragile thing'.

This single was pressed on white vinyl and contains two versions of the song: the regular album version and a remix by Robert Smith. There's even an inner sleeve on this one! 

My collection: 7" single no. 7525
Found: Platenzaak.nl, received 6 December 2024
Tracks: 'A fragile thing (RS24 mix)' / 'A fragile thing (RS24 remix)'

Midnight train - Kim Wilde

Kim Wilde's latest offering is the second single from her forthcoming album Closer, due out at the end of January. Based on the previous single 'Trail of destruction' and this one, it seems we're looking forward to a corker. 

Still, this single didn't impress me at first - and that's not because of the song, but because of the fact that there was a lot going on in my life when this came out. I only got to play the single about two weeks after it came out (yes, I still don't do digital so I had to wait until this vinyl single arrived!) and I wasn't grabbed right away. Reading through some of the online comments I noticed the same from other people. But I have to say: repeated play absolutely helps this particular song. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7508
Found: Cherry Red website, received 29 November 2024
Tracks: 'Midnight train' / 'Midnight train (instrumental)'

King ghost - Steven Wilson

Steven Wilson's album The Future Bites is a fantastic record, and I was very glad when I received the deluxe edition of that album on CD. Unfortunately I missed out on this 7" single, which was coupled with an edition of the magazine Electronic Sounds.

However, these singles sometimes pop up on unexpected places, and so I suddenly saw it and didn't have to think twice. This 'limited edition coloured vinyl seven-inch single by Steven Wilson' features extended remixes of two tracks from the album, and it's pressed on red vinyl. It puts my mind at ease when I find a gem like this.

My collection: 7" single no. 7394
Found: Flashback Records, London, 21 October 2024
Tracks: 'King ghost (extended remix)' / 'Eminent sleaze (extended remix)'

The Tower - Luna

Physical releases of Eurovision songs from this year have been very scarce, unfortunately. So far, I've only been able to get Olly Alexander's 'Dizzy' on 7" vinyl, CD-single and USB and the CD-single of the winning song from Switzerland. However, recently Poland's Luna has come through with a beautiful 12" single, and it looks quite impressive.

'The Tower' didn't reach the final, unfortunately, but it's a decent song that deserves some repeated play. This 12" single is pressed on red vinyl and presents four versions of the song. The acoustic version is probably the most different of the four, as it strips down the track to the basics. The other three versions are actually very similar. A good extended remix could have made this package even more appealing. 

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Luna website, received 17 October 2024
Tracks: 'The Tower', 'The Tower (acoustic)' / 'The Tower (revamp)', 'The Tower (radio edit)'

Some days I drink my coffee by the grave of William Blake - The The

'Some days I drink my coffee by the grave of William Blake' was released as the third single from The The's recent album Ensoulment. Matt Johnson said about the song: "It belongs to the family of songs I have written about London, including ‘Perfect’, ‘Flesh & Bones’, ‘Heartland’, ‘The Beat(en) Generation’, ‘Helpline Operator’, ‘Pillar Box Red’ and others. I have often drank my coffee by the grave of William Blake – though these days there are actually two gravestones dedicated to him in the small dissenters cemetery that he was thrown into when he died – on and off over the last 40 years I have lived close by and have always found it an inspiring place to sit and meditate upon life. Nostalgia is part of the human condition and change is inevitable in our lives and in the world around us. Large capital cities such as London often amplify the sense of change, although one thing that never seems to change is the cynicism of those in power."

It is certainly one of the most appealing songs on the album, and a great addition to the two singles that were already released.

My collection: 7" single no. 7374
Found: Record fair, Rotterdam, 5 October 2024
Tracks: 'Some days I drink my coffee by the grave of William Blake' / 'Frozen clouds'

Cognitive dissent - The The

'Cognitive dissent' was released digitally in May this year as the first single from The The's new album Ensoulment. The limited edition physical 7" vinyl became available in June and sold out almost as soon as it arrived. I was too late to get a copy. 

Fortunately, I was lucky enough to get one of those 'bundles' at the record fair last weekend: three The The singles from the Ensoulment album. The fact that I already owned one of the three - 'Linoleum smooth to the stockinged foot' - didn't matter that much: it was more important to get my collection complete. Singles like this will only rise in value in the coming years.

My collection: 7" single no. 7373
Found: Record fair, Rotterdam, 5 October 2024
Tracks: 'Cognitive dissent' / 'When is the heart of waiting'

Linoleum smooth to the stockinged foot - The The

The The have released three singles from their new album Ensoulment until now, but unfortunately the first and third one have eluded me until now. Not strange when you realize the 7" singles sold out within a day online. 

'Linoleum smooth to the stockinged foot' was number two, and I managed to order that one from an online vendor recently. Matt Johnson - the only permanent member of The The - wrote the lyrics in a hospital bed, under the influence of morphine whilst recovering from a life-saving operation. As fate would have it, Johnson’s weeks in hospital had nothing to do with Covid, but occurred at precisely the time Covid reached crisis proportions, making for an even more surreal ordeal. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7317
Found: Discogs.com, received 3 September 2024
Tracks: 'Linoleum smooth to the stockinged foot' / 'Mycelium muse'

Under attack - Abba

Although war crept in to some Abba tracks from time to time (most notably 'Waterloo' and 'Fernando'), the feeling of paranoia and fear was never more obvious than on 'Under attack', a real Cold War song. It was released as Abba's last single - or so we thought. After 'Under attack' there were endless re-releases of singles until the band surprised us in 2021 with 'I still have faith in you'. 

'Under attack' was not a commercial success upon its release. ABBA's popularity was in decline and the two preceding singles ('Head over heels' and 'The day before you came') had failed to reach number 1 anywhere. Although a Top 5 hit in Belgium and the Netherlands, and a Top 20 single in a couple of other European charts, it did not become a major hit anywhere else. It peaked at number 26 in the UK singles chart.

My collection: 7" single no. 7311
Found: Sounds, Delft, 31 August 2024
Tracks: 'Under attack' / 'You owe me one'

The day before you came - Abba

After a short break, Abba returned to the studio in the spring of 1982. The first results were deemed disappointing: the tracks 'Just like that' was never released (a snippet appeared on the box set Thank you for the music in 1994), 'I am the city' only made it out in 1993 on More Abba Gold and 'You owe me one' would become a B-side later in 1982. Concluding that a new full length album was not a realistic prospect for 1982, Polar Music decided instead to release a double-album compilation of ABBA’s most successful singles in autumn 1982, in which would be included some new recordings which could also be released as singles.

The group went back in the studio in August and recorded 'Cassandra' and 'Under attack'. Under the working title ‘Den lidande fågeln’ (‘The Suffering Bird’) they also started on what would become 'The day before you came'. The song was based on "a single melodic fragment that lent itself to being repeated in a series of ascending and descending phrases over several key changes", according to Benny. 

Björn wrote the lyrics at and following the session. His first task was to decide on a theme, and here he was inspired by the characteristics of the melody he and Benny had written: "The tune is narrative in itself, and relentless. That almost monotonous quality made me think of this girl who was living in a sort of gloominess and is now back in that same sense of gloom." His idea for a theme therefore was "a woman recounting all the dull, ordinary things she “guessed she must have done” the day before she had a highly charged encounter with a man" and began a relationship that would end unhappily: "He has left her, and her life has returned to how it ‘must have been’ before she met him.”

Many years after the song was recorded, Michael Tretow recalled Agnetha performing the lead vocals with dimmed lights and said that the mood had become sad and everybody in the studio knew that 'this was the end'. Although 'Under attack' would be released after 'The day before you came', this song certainly sounds like Abba's last great moment, and it remains one of my absolute favourite songs of the band. 

This edition is a picture disc released as part of a series accompanying the re-release of the album The Visitors in 2023.

My collection: 7" single no. 7310
Found: Sounds, Delft, 31 August 2024
Tracks: 'The day before you came' / 'Cassandra'

Head over heels - Abba

'Head over heels' was released in March 1982 as the second single from the album The Visitors.  Agnetha Fältskog sang the lead vocals, singing about her "very good friend", played in the music video by Anni-Frid Lyngstad, an overactive high-society woman who rushes through the shops, with her hapless and exhausted husband (played by Ulvaeus) following behind and being forced to carry the shopping bags. 

The single reached number 4 in the Dutch Top 40, while it stalled at number 25 in the UK singles chart. No further singles were released from the album - in Europe at least, because the B-side 'The Visitors' was released as a single in the USA in April 1982, with 'Head over heels' added on the other side.

This edition is a picture disc released as part of a series accompanying the re-release of the album The Visitors in 2023.

My collection: 7" single no. 7309
Found: Sounds, Delft, 31 August 2024
Tracks: 'Head over heels' / 'The visitors'

One of us - Abba

At the start of the 1980s, Abba was slowly falling apart. After the divorce of Björn and Agnetha (which some felt was documented in 'The winner takes it all'), Benny and Frida followed suit and the album The Visitors, released in 1981, was definitely a more sombre affair when compared to previous albums.

The lead single was 'One of us', one of a number of tracks that explored the darker territory of Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson's songwriting, as the two men's divorces were beginning to influence their musical output. The message of the song is about a woman trying to revive a relationship she had ended. The single reached number 3 in the UK singles chart and number 1 in the Dutch Top 40. 

This edition is a picture disc released as part of a series accompanying the re-release of the album The Visitors in 2023.

My collection: 7" single no. 7308
Found: Sounds, Delft, 31 August 2024
Tracks: 'One of us' / 'Should I laugh or cry'

Lay all your love on me - Abba

'Lay all your love on me' was not intended to be a single but after a remixed version gained popularity in nightclubs, the song was released as Abba's final single from the album Super Trouper - but only as a 12" single.  At the time, it was the highest selling 12-inch record in UK chart history, where it peaked at No. 7. 

The song is known for a descending vocal sound at the end of the verse immediately preceding the refrain. This was achieved by sending the vocal into a harmoniser device, which was set up to produce a slightly lower-pitched version of the vocal. In turn its output was fed back to its input, thereby continually lowering the pitch of the vocal. Andersson and Ulvaeus felt that the chorus of the song sounded like a hymn, so parts of the vocals in the choruses were run through a vocoder, to recreate the sound of a church congregation singing, slightly out of tune.

This edition is a picture disc released as part of a series accompanying the re-release of the album Super Trouper in 2020. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7319
Found: Discogs.com, received 4 September 2024
Tracks: 'Lay all your love on me' / 'On and on and on'

Super trouper - Abba

I've always viewed 'Super trouper' as an Abba-by-numbers track. Sure, the melody is there and the vocals are spot on, but the lyrics seem a bit uninspired. Being the big pop stars they were at that time, it seemed a bit too 'easy' to get inspired by a super trouper - the kind of spotlight used during live performances - and telling the story of a singer who waits for her lover to appear.

But still, the audiences loved it. The single was actually Abba's last number 1 hit in the UK. It also topped the charts in a handful of European countries. 

This edition is a picture disc released as part of a series accompanying the re-release of the album Super Trouper in 2020. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7318
Found: Discogs.com, received 4 September 2024
Tracks: 'Super trouper' / 'The piper'

The winner takes it all - Abba

Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson started writing 'The winner takes it all' in the summer of 1979 in a cottage on the island of Viggsö. The demo had an original title of 'The story of my life' and the first arrangement for the song was uptempo with a constant beat. However, they felt their first effort "much too stiff and metrical", so they left the song for a few days while they worked on other songs. 

Four days later they returned to the song, and Andersson came up with the idea of using a French chanson-style arrangement with a descending piano line and a looser structure. Ulvaeus then recorded a demo using nonsense French words for lyrics, and took the recording home to write the lyrics. According to Ulvaeus, he drank whiskey while he was writing, and it was the quickest lyric he ever wrote. He said, "I was drunk, and the whole lyric came to me in a rush of emotion in one hour." Ulvaeus said that when he gave the lyrics to Fältskog to read, "a tear or two welled up in her eyes. Because the words really affected her." Ulvaeus denies the song is about his and Fältskog's divorce, saying the basis of the song "is the experience of a divorce, but it's fiction. 'Cause one thing I can say is that there wasn't a winner or a loser in our case. A lot of people think it's straight out of reality, but it's not". However, Ulvaeus admitted that the heartache of their breakup inspired the song, but noted that the words in the song should not be taken literally. These days, 'The winner takes it all' is recognized as one of Abba's strongest tracks. 

This edition is a picture disc released as part of a series accompanying the re-release of the album Super Trouper in 2020. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7312
Found: Abba Fanclub, received 3 September 2024
Tracks: 'The winner takes it all' / 'Elaine'

$1 one vote - The The

'$1 one vote' is a single by The The, released last year as a strictly limited 7" single. According to Matt Johnson: “It is a song that has been percolating – in various versions – for a number of years. For some reason I was always having trouble finding the right words to finish it off. But the nascent dystopia of the last couple of years has certainly opened eyes, sharpened minds and clarified thoughts.”

It's no surprise that Johnson issues criticism on today's society, having done the same on his albums 'Infected' and 'Mind Bomb' three decades ago. It's good to have The The back - the new album Ensoulment was released two days ago.

My collection: 7" single no. 7316
Found: Discogs.com, received 3 September 2024
Tracks: '$1 one vote' / 'Mrs Mac'

Honey Honey - Abba

'Honey Honey' was released as the second single from Abba's second studio album, Waterloo, after the success of the title track at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest. Although some people believe that the group was instantly successful all over the world, this single was actually not the huge success that 'Waterloo' was. It reached the top 10 in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, but in other countries it fared less well. Some assumed that the Swedish group would be a one hit wonder.

This edition is a picture disc released as part of this year's 50th anniversary celebrations, along with the album Waterloo. It's the last of three picture disc 7" singles.

My collection: 7" single no. 7305
Found: Sounds, Delft, 31 August 2024
Tracks: 'Honey Honey' / 'King Kong song'

Waterloo - Abba

While Abba performed 'Waterloo' in English at the Eurovision Song Contest, it was originally performed in Swedish at the national final for Eurovision. This Swedish version was also released as a single in Sweden, where it was very popular. 

Meanwhile, 'Honey honey' was the last official recording by the group in their own Swedish language, and was released as the B-side of the 'Waterloo' single. 

This edition is a picture disc released as part of this year's 50th anniversary celebrations, along with the album Waterloo. It's the second of three picture disc 7" singles, but the only one featuring a colour picture.

My collection: 7" single no. 7306
Found: Sounds, Delft, 31 August 2024
Tracks: 'Waterloo (Swedish version)' / 'Honey Honey (Swedish version)'

Waterloo - Abba

Unless you've spent the last 50 years under a rock, you will be familiar with the Abba song 'Waterloo'. It was their international breakthrough after winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974. The song has been re-released many times, and in my collection there are several copies: the original Swedish version, the 30th anniversary version, the 40th anniversary picture disc, the German version and of course this year's celebratory 10" single.

This edition is a picture disc released as part of this year's 50th anniversary celebrations, along with the album Waterloo. It's the first of three picture disc 7" singles.

My collection: 7" single no. 7307
Found: Sounds, Delft, 31 August 2024
Tracks: 'Waterloo' / 'Watch out'

Love isn't easy (but it sure is hard enough) - Björn Benny Agnetha & Frida

'Love isn't easy' was one of the last songs to be recorded for the album Ring Ring, released by the quartet of Björn, Benny, Agnetha & Anni-frid in 1973. The song was also released as a single, but not in Sweden: only Danish pressings exist and the single was released in Norway, Finland and Denmark only (although copies would probably have reached other countries too). The song describes the common phenomenon of a quarrel between lovers.

This edition features the original A- and B-side, but on a picture disc. It's the last of five picture disc released at the same time as a re-release of the album Ring Ring in 2023.

My collection: 7" single no. 7302
Found: Sounds, Delft, 31 August 2024
Tracks: 'Love isn't easy (but it sure is hard enough)' / 'I am just a girl'